lways came to work in the house upon materials provided there, or the
harvest men for the gathering of the crops; and domestic servants who
were hired by the year, these latter being expected to pay an absolute
and passive obedience to the lord and lady of the household and any
others who were set in authority over them.

Naturally, it was the female servants who came under the supervision
of the lady of the house, and minute directions are given for their
ordering. She was to require her maids to repair early in the morning
to their work; the entrance to the hall and all other places by which
people enter, or places in the hall where they tarry to converse, were
to be swept and made clean, "and that the footstools and covers of the
benches and forms be dusted and shaken, and after this that the other
chambers be in like manner cleaned and arranged for the day." After
this, the pet animals were to be attended to and fed. At midday the
servants were to have their first meal, which was to be bountiful, but
"only of one meat and not of several, or of any delicacies; and give
them only one kind of drink, nourishing but not heady, whether wine
or other; and admonish them to eat heartily, and to drink well and
plentifully, for it is right that they should eat all at once, without
sitting too long, and at one breath, without reposing on their meal
or halting, or leaning with their elbows on the table; and as soon
as they begin to talk or to rest on their elbows, make them rise
and remove the table." After their "second labor" and on feast days
also--when seemingly the workday was not so long as usual--they were
to have another lighter repast, and in the late evening, after all
their duties were performed, another abundant meal was served. It
then devolved upon the lady of the house or her deputy to see that the
manor was closed, and to take charge of the keys, preventing anyone
from going in or out; and then, having had all the fires carefully
"covered," she sent the servants to bed and saw that their candles
were extinguished to prevent the risk of fire. The lady was always
careful as to whom she received into her house as servitors; female
servants who came to her as strangers were not well regarded, and were
not given trusts of importance, and their characters, so far as was
possible, were looked into, as well as the circumstances of their
leaving their former place of employment.

The term "spinster," which is now confine